Nocum channels inner Castro

Adrian Nocum couldn’t have picked a perfect role model to help Rain or Shine torch TNT Tropang Giga in Game 3 of their Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup best-of-seven semifinal series last Sunday.

Nocum said he patterned his game after Tropang Giga veteran Jayson Castro in leading the Elasto Painters to the overwhelming win that kept their title hopes alive in this midseason tournament.

With his idol Castro watching helplessly at the sidelines with a patellar tendon ruptured injury, Nocum put on a show, dropping seven of the Elasto Painters’ 14 points in the fourth quarter to help them secure a 103-98 victory that put them one win away from tying the race-to-four series, 1-2.

All in all, the former Mapua University star scored 16 points, eight rebounds, and four assists as Rain or Shine averted falling into a deep 0-3 hole.

“We were able to pull off the late-game plays Coach (Yeng Guiao) tells us and we got the win,” Nocum said, adding that Guiao challenged him to take note of Castro’s game in competing against the Tropang Giga.

“Coach told us he’s (Castro) is a real point guard. I saw that he can pass and create. I learned a lot from him and it just feels good to go up against someone like that.”

Guiao agrees, saying that he wants Nocum and the rest of the Elasto Painters to make the most of the minutes they are inside the court as they brace for long and tough series.

“Jayson is their stabilizer. I think (when) he is playing, his minutes are also being managed, it’s around 20-plus minutes but those are quality minutes,” said Guiao, whose wards will go for the equalizer on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“It’s really the time when he’s on court that he is able to make his teammates around him better.”

Guiao added that they need to make the most out of Castro’s absence in TNT if they want to return to the finals for the first time since beating Alaska to win the 2016 Commissioner’s Cup crown.

“It’s still a big break for us that they’re not able to utilize him. But of course, you don’t wish that on anybody,” Guiao said.